We Are Monster – EIFF Review

Antony Petrou’s racism-fuelled drama concerning the tragic real-life case of Zahid Mabarek shifts focus from the victim, instead opting to centre in on just what drove his fellow inmate, Robert Stewart, to commit such heinous acts.

Despite the interesting choice in way of protagonist, Petrou does little to offer any possible source of motivation. The oversimplification and downright excess to which Stewart’s perspective is subject qualifies as more a “montage of madness” than the darkly sensitive exploration the preface appears to promise. As such, We Are Monster comes across disappointingly overzealous in both approach and performance.